Car door and means for mounting and operating the same



July 6,1926. 1,591,609 4 L.CAMPBELL CAR DOOR AND MEANS FOR MOUNTING AND OPERATING THE SAME Filed Feb. 7, 1925 llllIIHIIIIIHIHEIHHIHHHL Patented July 6, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUDOUN CAMPBELL, BALLSTON, VIRGINIA. 7'

CAR DOOR AND MEANS FOR MOUNTING AND OPERATING THE SAME.

Application filed February 7, 1925.

This invention relates to car doors and means formounting and operating the same. The purposes and advantages of the invention will be better appreciated if some of the existing conditions with respect to devices of this sort are understood.

The'railroads of this country suffer enormous financial loss, annually, because of the damage done to car doors, by the receiver of freight, in trying to get said doors open. It is frequently the case that a car door will resist the combined efforts of four or "five men to open it and then crow bars, picks, or anything else that happens to be handy, are used to pry the door open, the points of these instruments being struck into the body of the car to get the necessary 7 purchase to initially start the movement of the door. This not only directly damages the. carv sides and sills but, in addition, by permitting the entry of water sets up rotting of these parts which ultimately result in large repair bills. Some of the causes which render it so difficult to get the doors of freight ears open are as follows:

A. Since the height of the car is such that a man trying to push the door open can followsthat his attempt to push the door will tend to cock it, in its guides and thus a cause a binding of the same.

B. The guides or tracks frequently get out of line either as a result of accidents or as a result of weaving of the car when in motion. and

C. The freight in the car sometimes shifts in transit and moves against the inside of the door in such manner as to engage the battens upon the inner face of thedoor and thus resist opening movement of the door.

In order to obviate the foregoing difficulties the present invention contemplates the.

provision of a, guide means connected to but 4 spaced from the door proper and guiding it centrally. in such way that it cannot cock with respect to the mountings.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a lever arranged to compound the force exerted by a person tending to open the door in such manner that oneman can exert as much pressure upon the door reach onlythe lower portion of the door, it

Serial No. 7,531.

as several men could exert in a straight push. I y

The invention further contemplates the provision of a door provided with batten of a wedge shape so that movement ofthe door will tend to throw any freight which may have moved toward the door, away fromof a car having the invention applied thereto. I

Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the car body and the door of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of a portion of the door illustrating the operating lever for the same.

Figure t is a horizontal sectional view through the door illustrating one of the battens hereinafter described.

Figure 5 is a sectional view illustrating the mounting of the rollers upon which the lower edge of the door is supported, and

Figure 6 is a detail view illustrating a modification hereinafter described.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawing:

Referring to the drawing, 5, designates the sill of the car, 6, the side walls, 7 the floor and 8 the top. The door 9 has its upper edge guided in an angle rail 10 and its lower edge supported upon a series of rollers 11. See Figures 1 and 5. The lower edge of the door is held against outward movement by guider'ail 12 and this guide rail is spaced from the sill of the car by inner sleeves 13 which constitute the journals for the rollers 11 and which are in turn supported by bolts 14 which pass through the sill of the car. Thus it will be seen that the sleeves 13 constitute spacing in. Figures 1 and 2 is preferred since the elements to hold the rails 12 a given distance latter provides means for preventing the from the sill of the car. This prevents door from cocking. binding of the rollers 11 and braces the rail It is to be understood that the invention is 5 12 :to .resist bending if a truck orwagon -=not 'li-n'1itedwtos the; precise construction set should-be backedthereagainst in loading or forth, for manifestly-many ways-will readunloading the car. ily suggest themselves for guiding the door To prevent the Cl0OI-"9ifFODT'fiOClilllg'iill topreventy-cocliing and for compounding the guides, constituted by the rails and the leverage which the operator may exert 10 12 and't-he rollers 11", I provide an elongated in his ielfortwtoopen the door. lt is thereflat bar 15, which at a point outside of the fore to be understood that the invention is range of travel of-thedoorypasses through not' limitedtotho precise construction set 1 a suitable guide, which in the present emforth but that it includes within its purview bodiment of the invention takesthe form whatever changes' fairly come within the 15 of a pair of idle rollers 16 which are mountterms orthe spirit of'the appended claims. ed'upon thei'inner face of a vertically dis- '4 Having described my invention what I posed strap '17. "Thus-it is clear that the claim-is: dooncannot cock in either direetion. but 1. The combination with a freight car -must'travelr-in a straightline as guided by door of means formounting 'the same for 20 the strap 15andtherollers 16. The'strap 'slid'able, horizontal movement, atits upper 15, which is secured to the door 9in any deand lower edges, a plurality of outwardly sired inanncr as" for example bybolts, at projecting elements disposed'in arow across -18, is providedwith a plurality of outwardly the width ofsaid door, a fixed support carprojecting-pins '19, which are adapted to be- 'riedi by the car body. and lying outwardly engagedby' the nose '20, which constitutes of the'plane of travel of the door, a lever the shortarm of a'lever 21. 'lhis lever is mounted for bodily .endwise movement and provided with a slot 22 andis pivoted upon for swinging movement upon said support a stud 23-which projects flOHtlillG inner face and-con'iprising a long arm and ashort arm, of a vertically extending strap'24; that is "the endwise movement of'the'lever upon'its supported from the car body. "Thedotted support bringing theshort arm of the lever lines iiiFi'gure 3-indicatethe positionthat into positionfor" engagement rwith"the out the nose of the lever occupies afterthe lever wardly projetingblements ofthe door, the has been swung to move the door, onestep,- swingingmovement of the lever being in a in'a' direction-to open i'it. "After this hasg'plane substantially parallel to the outer bcen--do1ie the lever is rocked to the full "face of the door.

line position, illustrated in. Figure 3, and 2. A structure as"recit'edin elaimnl. in swung upon its' stud, and then :forced upcom'binationwith a barcarried byithei door Mvardly to cause itsnose to engage the next and-projecting a material distance beyond pin 19 to theyleft,so that a' further .swingthe door in the line of travel' thereof, and 40 ingvmovement of the long arm 7 21 .of, the I gi-iide members between which said bar travlever will result'inopeningthedoorxanother cls, said members resistingthetendency of step, Since this long movement of the arm= the doortoeoclr'underthe action of the said -21 will result in opening the'door only a lever as s'a'idlever' is actuated to open'the "short distance-it follows that one man may said 'door. exert as muchpressure on fthedoorfat a 3. The combination with a" freight car n given moment as several men could do,'with door-"of means for mounting thesame for a straight-push. Referring; to Figure 3, 9 sliding movement; a strap extendingacross designatesthe-boards-constituting'the body the face ofsaid door and projecting rear- 1 oft-he-door and 9 designates a batten exwardly therebeyonch guide meanszengaging tending along' its inner face. Fromthisfigs'aidst-rap beyond the plane of-travel of the ure iewm -be--"observed thatthis batten has door,- a fixed'meinbercarried by the car body its" fZtCQ'bGVClBCl l11-0ppOSllZ6 CllIGCtlOHS SO 'ELIId lying in front bf the door. a lever th t ifn f -ei ght'shonld shift during,the mounted npen saidmeinber and having r oi'ioveliieiit of theoar, over toward the inner slotted engagement therewith and a plural- T-face of the-door, the operation of thedoomity of outwardlyprojecting elements carried andel-the influence of-thedever 21,-in c'onby the' vdoor and-adapted to-be engaged by junction with the wedge shape of theubatsaid lever. ate-n, -will--result-in* thrusting said freight tf'The eombinatioawitha freight car awayfrom the inner-face of the door. In *door of means" for mounti-ngthe same for ul igure 6, I have illustrateda construction slidable movement at ItS' upper and lower nvolving theuse of a rack arm'-30 -whicl1-ecl ge,-a'baneXtending horizontally across is set into the-face 'of'the sill 5. By engagthe'face of said door and to a point matein-nrr a crow bar or other pry with'the-teethrially-beyondthe rear edgethereof, a plurack bar, the door may be'pried flll tyOf' pinscarried 'bysaid' bar and-prowopen. However, the construction illustrated ecting beyond the face thereof, a pair of guide rollers between which the rear end of said bar travels, a fixed, vertically disposed element lying oljltwardly of the car door, :1 lever comprising a long arm and a relatively short arm and a pin and slot connection between the lever and said fixed element constituting the pivot point of said lever and adapting the short arm of the lever to be shifted bodily into and out of engagement with the pins of said bar.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

LOUDOUN CAMPBELL. 

